Playing in the belly of the beast - Michigan basketball at Assembly Hall

Do you remember?

Tomorrow we travel again to Bloomington to play Indiana at dreaded Assembly Hall.  While the historical record against the Hoosiers is a dismal 56-103 we are an stunning 12-64 when playing in their gym.  In my opinion, of all the houses of B1G officiating horrors, Assembly Hall stands alone as the Pantheon of "home cooking" when it comes to getting biased calls favoring the home team.  Which means that despite our respective records through the years - the best squad does not always prevail if not in candy striped warm-ups.  In fact they rarely, if ever, do in Indiana.

A few notable games stand out through the years:

1977 - The one loss and 5th ranked Wolverines lose to unranked #2 Indiana 73-64

1989 - The 6th 13th ranked and eventual National Champions fall to 9th ranked uanked Indiana 71-70 76-75

1990 - The 5th ranked Wolves lose to unranked Indiana 71-69

1992 - Fab Five get blown out 89-74 by unranked Indiana.

1993 - This time the #2 in the nation Fab Five get screwed at the end and lose 93-92

1994 - No Webber, no change.  11th ranked Michigan goes down 74-64

1997 - Ranked #13, Michigan loses yet again to unranked Indiana 72-70 

1998 - Ranked #15 going in, Michigan gets crushed by unranked Indiana 90-65

2012 - #16 Michigan goes down 73-71 to unranked Indiana

2013 - Ranked #1 - Michigan loses to Indiana 72-71 81-73.  Lots of Televisions die

I watched all those games.  I can tell you beyond a shadow of doubt that when playing at Assembly Hall expect at least 3-5 "WTF" calls per game that will go against us.  I think we can and should win tomorrow.  But if history has taught me anything it is to not expect the win to be easy (should it come) or without 40 minutes of me yelling at the TV in anger.

Let the game begin.